Letters to the editor: ‘This has to stop’

All of the things being said and done in the past few weeks regarding the governmental shutdown remind me of a story: In the middle of the night a man is awakened by the sounds of cats fighting. The growling, hissing, screeching and general ruckus sounds like they are killing each other, but the net result is always the same — kittens. The same thing has been going on in our nation’s capitol.

I suspect the result of the next agreement will be just like the story, except that instead of kittens, we will have a bigger government and more debt. This has to stop.

I do not believe there can be any real changes until after the 2014 elections. The stakes require that citizens step up to decide which way our country is to go. For those who are fearful of the path our country is going and the debt that it is incurring, the time to unite and act is now.

The past 10 years has seen our expenditures reach 24 percent of the gross national product and our debt go from $7 trillion to $17 trillion, with no end in sight. We cannot continue to borrow 20 percent of our budget year after year and stay solvent. The only way we can manage our debt is to balance our budget and grow the economy so the debt represents a smaller percentage of our GDP. Failure to do so will result in America becoming another diminished state with a declining standard of living.

Gary Worthley

Land O’ Lakes

Debt serious business

Many people seem to be blaming the tea party for the shutdown. I agree, but instead of cursing them, I say praise them. They see the really big problem facing this good old USA is the national debt. They are ready to face the fact that our two large entitlement programs — Social Security and Medicare — will have to be trimmed.

They saw that a new entitlement program — Obamacare — will be the last straw. I say “straw” because it will not take much to cause our capitalistic system to collapse. We cannot keep printing money to just pay the interest on our national debt. People who are criticizing the tea party have their heads in the sand. They don’t want to face the facts. They don’t want to reduce our indebtedness. They don’t want to change our tax system. We will soon run out of time to make a correction.

Robert Frazier

Dunedin

Let Ybor City compete

It has come to the attention of citizens in Tampa that the Tampa City Council has proposed that all Tampa establishments (bars, clubs, restaurants, convenience stores, movie theaters) that sell liquor close at midnight. Some may stay open with stronger added permit regulations. Council states this is because of at-closing violence at Club Manilla, just east of Ybor City, and Club Empire on 7th Avenue. Both have self-imploded and are gone. Numerous clubs have the same audience yet maintain a good-neighbor standing in the community.

The idea that changing the closing to midnight to reduce after bar-closing violence is totally wrong and will actually increase violence. At midnight in Ybor City, there are 30 times the people here than at 3 a.m. That would mean 30 times’ more violence. No matter what the closing time is, people will power-drink one hour before closing. The violence will be unbelievable, and totally out of control.

Tampa City Council should take a close look at how the Seminole Hard Rock Casino handles bar-closing violence. There is no bar closing! They stay open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is no problem of power-drinking. There is no problem of everybody at the same time being pushed out into the street. There is no problem of everybody driving away at the same time.

It’s time Tampa leaders adopt a policy for the gem of Tampa, Historic Ybor City, similar to the Historic French Quarter in New Orleans, and allow liquor sales 22/7, with two hours for cleaning. It is also time for Tampa to adopt an open-container policy in the Ybor City Historic District like the one in Savannah, Ga. It is time for the Tampa City Council to rethink and work on this issue and stop punishing all the honest hard-working club owners and staffs. It’s time to allow Ybor City to fairly compete, not only with Savannah and New Orleans but the Hard Rock.

Mark Bias

Ybor City

The writer is owner of MC Film.

Brawn but no brains

Maybe the Tampa Bay Bucs are another spin-off of Obama and company since they seem to be all in the family, and the results are shaping up the same. All brawn, no brain power.

After a long run in the Tampa Tribune sports department, Joe Henderson now shares his thoughts on the people and places that make up daily life in our city.

Tom Jackson

Tom Jackson’s baseball card — if he had one — would report he throws left, writes right. In his columns and blog, “The Right Stuff,” southpaw Jackson provides insight into the evolving human condition from a distinctly conservative point of view.Column | Blog